Boundary Bay Brewery and Wander Brewing Raise Money for Nepal

UPDATE: Foundation Restoration, who provides many of the anti-microbial, anti slip and high performance coating floors to Bellingham breweries, has agreed to donate $1.00 for ever beer sold today at Wander Brewing. From the owner Matt Shaver

It has always been a desire as a company to give when we can. Though it’s most often locally, the opportunity to reach further was attractive. It’s also fun to do something together as two companies looking outwardly.

We have personal ties to Nepal. Finn

[Magelssen] (Foundation Restoration, co-owner), supports a non profit there and my wife and I have friends that live in the region.

Just a few days ago Nepal experienced a massive 7.8 earthquake that destroyed buildings and lives. A few months ago Janet Lightner, General Manager of Boundary Bay Brewery, traveled to Nepal and the base camp of Mt. Everest. She became friends with the people that she met and kept in touch after. While horrified to hear of the tragedy there, she did learn that her friend Pema Sherpa survived the disaster. Unfortunately many did others did not. There are estimates that the death toll could reach 10,000.

Boundary has teamed up with Crystal Mountain to raise $10,000 to help rebuild the villages that were destroyed. From Boundary Bay’s Facebook page:

Help in the Nepal earthquake recovery efforts by purchasing a paper prayer flag when you dine at Boundary. We are raising funds for the village of Saurpani, a Gurkha village located near the epicenter of the recent 7.8 earthquake in Nepal. Our GM Janet Lightner recently travelled through Nepal to base camp on Mt. Everest, where she met some extraordinary people along the way. Fortunately, the friends she made on her journey are safe, however, many of their homes and villages were destroyed.

Working with Jwalant from Crystal Mountain Treks, our goal is to raise $10,000 to help rebuild the village of Saurpani. Our staff will be selling paper prayer flags starting at $1 — write a prayer, thought, or wish on your flag. At the end of the day, we will string them together and hang them up throughout the brewery. We hope to adorn our walls will several flags and well-wishes in the up and coming weeks. All proceeds raised during this fundraiser will go towards the rehabilitation efforts in Saurpani. We sincerely appreciate any donation towards this cause. Thank you.

Stay tuned for an official fundraiser in our Beer Garden!

Boundary Bay Brewery also teamed up with The Bellingham Farmers Market to help further donate. From their press release

With so many world-wide organizations that people can donate to, we decided to focus Boundary’s fundraising efforts of the village Janet’s friend and Everest guide, Sune Gurung was from (Saurpani). We’ve been in daily communication with the Crystal Mt. Treks staff in Nepal, a 25 year old well-established, family-owned climbing business, who will make sure these funds are directed appropriately. With any natural disaster, the influx and outpour of generosity is on the forefront of everyone’s mind initially, but it is often also quick to peter out. And that’s what we don’t want to have happen — We want to keep this on the forefront of peoples minds, as it will take years to rebuild the infrastructure of Nepal. Thus, this fundraiser will be ongoing in the upcoming months, to potentially years!

The planning process is still underway and new details regarding the execution of this fundraiser are being figured out. We are just so grateful for the support we’ve seen come in already. The Bellingham Farmer’s Market reached out this morning and will be setting up a prayer flag booth at the market this Saturday! Legendary Chucklenuts have a show on June 19th — rather than be paid, they would like funds to go towards this cause.

Boundary isn’t the only Tap Trail brewery with ties to Nepal. Chad and Colleen, owners of Wander Brewing, traveled to Nepal a few years ago. They gave their dog a Nepalese name, Jangbu. The walls of their brewery are adorned with images of their travels there. They are also raising money tomorrow for Nepal.

Nepal is close to our hearts at Wander. You might have noticed the prints on our brewery walls or the fact that our brewery dog has a Nepali name, Jangbu. Nepal is a beautiful area of the world with amazing people that have shared their passion for life and their country with us during our months spent there. We want to lend what support we can during this difficult time. Wander is donating $1.50 from every beer sold Friday (5/1) to organizations that are supporting the effort to rebuild the country. Our good brewery friend, Mark (pictured below), was in Nepal at the time of the earthquake and is helping us to coordinate the best route for our funds to ensure they have the largest impact. Please help spread the word by sharing this post and swing by the Brew Hall Friday night if you would like to contribute!

-Chad & Colleen

We’ll see you tomorrow at Wander Brewing to help raise funds for Nepal and stay tuned for Boundary Bay’s fundraiser in the beer garden!